[Thomson Hankey senior, merchant banker with extensive West Indian interests.] Autograph Letter Signed to his son Thomson Hankey junior, making him a gift of £4000 and share 'of the Ship Elizabeth Capt. Walker now on her Voyage to Grenada'.

1p., 8vo. Bifolium, addressed on reverse of second leaf 'To Thomson Hankey Junr.' In good condition, on lightly-aged paper. The letter begins: 'Dear Thomson, | I give to you as a free Gift the Sum of Four Thousand Pounds & authorize you on 30th. of this Month to place that Sum to your Credit with our House by the Debit of my private Account. I also give you the one fourth Share of my two thirds Share of the Ship Elizabeth Capt. Walker now on her Voyage to Grenada, which Share including the Cost of her last outfit I estimate at One Thousand Pounds -' He concludes by describing the insurance 'out & Home' on the value of £5000, signing 'Your Affecte Father | Thomson Hankey'. The history of the firm begins with Captain Samuel Hankey who, traded with Jamaica, Antigua and the Leeward Islands in partnership with John Houblon, and commenced in business as a City of London banker-goldsmith in 1685. The firm prospered to such an extent that his son Henry owned Jonathan's Coffee House in Exchange Alley, the precursor of the London Stock Exchange, and was knighted in 1732. Its fortunes continued to flourish with the slave trade, and by the early 1820s its headquarters at 7 Mincing Lane in the City of London handled the accounts of a number of prominent proprietors of West Indian plantations, including William Beckford. As an indication of the family's continuing prosperity, the wealth of Thomson Hankey senior (1773-1855, grandson of Sir Thomas Hankey) was stated at his death to be 'within province' of the fabulous sum of £140,000. From the Hankey banking archive.